Operation: Babies
by Ms. Perception
Summary: Set in the Operation: Endgame 'verse. The Puckleberry babies are ready to greet the world. And per the usual with this crew, it will be far from smooth sailing. Just another day in the life of the New York gleeks.


**Summary:** Set in the Operation: Endgame 'verse. The Puckleberry babies are ready to greet the world. And per the usual with this crew, it will be far from smooth sailing. Puck's hiding in a closet, Quinn keeps making the staff cry, Brittany's obsessed with babies and Beth is moping. In other words, an average day for the New York gleeks.

**Pairings:** Puckleberry, Samtana, Bartie, Klaine and Quinn/OC. Featuring Puck/Sam/Blaine friendships, Faberrittana friendships, Pucktana friendship. With brief mentions of Chang-Squared.

**Warnings:** This is a future fic. No real spoilers involved in this story as it is very AU.

**Disclaimer:** I in no way shape or form own Glee despite my continued efforts. I only own Dr. Sexy and would gladly trade him for Puck, Sam, Mike or Blaine.

**Author's Note:** And here we are with another story in the Operation: Endgame universe. This one follows the epilogue of Operation: Endgame. Not a whole lot to say other than enjoy!

* * *

><p>Operation: Babies!<p>

Noah Puckerman was in a closet. He was actually willing in a closet. More accurately, he was hiding on the floor of the hospital supply closet. Sam wanted to be surprised to find him there but he wasn't that surprised. He was just little annoyed that he was ruining a perfectly good pair of jeans to get down on the floor beside the historically claustrophobic idiot that was currently stupidly hiding in a goddamn supply closet. Ok, so maybe he was more than a little annoyed.

"You realize that all of this isn't going to stop this from actually happening, right?"

"I know," Puck moaned, leaning forward to rest his head on his upraised knees. "I know. This is happening. They're coming. I'm not ready for this shit. I'm going to suck at this."

"You know you already have a kid, right? And she's not completely screwed up," Sam said, stretching out his legs as best he could. He got the feeling that they were going to be there for awhile. "Beth is kind of a good example of how not screwed up as a parent you are."

"I didn't raise her! I wasn't there from the beginning. I missed all the formative years where I could've done irreparable damages. I just got the fun years. They aren't coming in the fun years. They're little tiny teacup humans that I'm going to screw up completely and totally."

"Dude! Calm the hell down," Sam ordered. "You're entitled to this little freak-out moment which is why I'm not going to call you a girly little bitch about it. But seriously, you're starting to freak me out."

"I'm starting to freak me out," Puck muttered.

Sam chuckled and put a hand on his friend's back. While he wasn't surprised at finding Puck hiding in the closet, he was surprised at how long it took Puck to break down. His best friend had shown a calm none of them thought he possessed during the madness presented by a pregnant Rachel Berry. At least Sam had some experience with the crazy that comes out of the woman you love when she's carrying a human being but none of them were prepared for Rachel's total full on bat-shit crazy. That was honestly the best way to describe the hormonal rants, violent outbursts and sudden craving for meat and cheese.

Sam was dragged out of his thoughts at a knock on the closet door. A second later, they were both blinking up at Blaine. Sam just scooted over allowing their friend to squeeze in. Blaine crossed his arms over his chest as he settled into a more comfortable position.

"You know, it's pretty safe to say that this is gayest thing I've ever done." Puck let out a startled laugh and glanced over Sam's head to mock glare at Blaine. "What? It so is."

"You're a jerk."

"Nah, I'm just brutally honest and devilishly handsome," Blaine snickered. "Anyway, I think you need to get your shit together, Puckerman. I'm pretty sure that leaving this crew unsupervised is just asking for trouble. Brittany has been eyeing the babies in the maternity ward. She probably thinks they're tiny animals in need of liberation."

"Oh god," Puck gagged.

"Blaine, please don't mention the words, tiny or babies. I think they're setting off some sort of pre-PTSD episode here."

Blaine arched an eyebrow. "You realize that in a matter of hours you're going to be a father of three girls, two of which will be tiny and babies, right?"

Sam never wanted to hit a human being more in his life as he did when Puck started hyperventilating. They were never getting out of that damn closet!

* * *

><p>Santana raised an eyebrow as her adopted niece continued her clever impersonation of a sane, calm and collected teenager. In other words, she was acting completely against character and that was something that Santana never wanted to see from her normally happy and bubbly Beth. She would have gone to sit next to the girl but she actually didn't think she was physically capable of moving at the moment. Well, not without help anyway. When she first found out she was pregnant again, Santana was happy. She seemingly forgot about the part where she was carrying a twenty pound beach ball around on her stomach and couldn't see her feet. But she remembered that part pretty quickly (i.e. during the fifth month). It was during those moments when she completely forgot why the hell she ever thought a second one was a good idea.<p>

"Mommy? What's wrong with Beth?" She glanced down at her son who was staring at Beth in the window as well.

"I don't really know."

"I'm going to give her a hug. They always make you feel better, right?"

Santana brushed his floppy hair out of his face and smiled softly. "Yeah, baby. They always make me feel so much better about everything. You should definitely give Beth a great big hug." Miguel brightened. He stood up but before he ran off to his cousin, he leaned forward and hugged her stomach.

"I love you, sister," he whispered to the baby. And damn if Santana didn't feel a small kick in response. Miguel's face lit up further.

Then Santana was reminded why she thought another baby was a good idea. It was because no matter what she did wrong in the past, being a mother was the thing she did well. She watched as Miguel ran over to Beth. Even in the melancholy mood she was in, the teen couldn't resist the power of Miguel's puppy dog eyes. She helped him into the window seat and let him hug her. Though Santana noticed her arms were wrapped around him just as tightly.

"Hey, San. Any news?"

She looked away from Beth and Miguel to John who had taken a seat beside her. Unlike the others, John wasn't free to wait around. He was still on duty, though he found time to take frequent breaks and check on the progress. At the rate Rachel was going, he would likely be off duty by the time the girls finally decided to be born.

"Nothing important, she's still in labor. It doesn't look like the girls are ready to come out yet. That's probably a good thing as Puck has been in that closet pretty much since we got here. Your wife has taken being a labor coach to scary new heights and I'm pretty sure she's made at least three nurses and Rachel's actual doctor cry. Asian Fusion keeps trying Face Time talk to me and get updates. And I haven't seen Britt, Artie and Kurt in awhile and that's usually not a good thing."

"You let them go unsupervised? The last time Kurt was here he damn near started a revolution with the nurses who insisted on wearing more fashionable scrubs."

"I didn't let them go anywhere. I sat down and I haven't been able to get back up. And Beth is over there being Emo in the window and Sam is in the closet with Puck and Blaine, so no one is here to help me up."

John blinked. "You know, I always think that I've heard it all but then you guys throw something new at me every single time."

"It's what keeps us interesting," Santana mused. "So you want the easy job or the hard job? Never mind, stupid question. You get the hard job."

"I'm not going in the closet," John retorted. "Now I've done some things since I joined this family but I draw the line at getting in a closet with three grown ass men."

"Oh please, you think that's the hard job? That's easy. I was talking about going to save the staff from your cracked out wife."

"You said that Puck's been in the closet since we got here. That's been about five hours. What makes you think that getting him out is going to be easy?"

Santana rolled her eyes. "A little help?"

John raised an eyebrow but stood to help Santana to her feet. Once she was standing, she shuffled slowly to the closet door. She knocked before leaning closer to the still closed door. "Hey, I don't know what's going on in there but nothing fun better be happening without photographic evidence! I haven't been able to get up without assistance and you know I need an accessible source of entertainment!"

"I hate you," Sam's voice was muffled due to the door but the exasperation was clear.

"Yeah, I'm not too fond of you either, Trouty Mouth. You're lucky that I can't bend over the whole way right now but I'm pretty sure I'm wearing two different colored shoes. Possibly different types of shoe. And I think your kid is kicking me in the kidney. That shit hurts!"

"Yeah, yeah. What do you want anyway? We're busy."

"Well, I just wanted Puck to know that his actually born child is getting her Emo on. That's all. Feel free to return to your regularly scheduled homoerotic activities."

Santana smirked and quickly moved away from the door. Before John could even ask her what she was doing, the door slammed open and Puck was rushing towards his daughter. He peered around the door to see both Sam and Blaine blinking incredulously on the floor.

"That'll be a hundred bucks each," she smirked. "And honey, I do believe you also threw in night duty with the baby for two months."

"You guys seriously bet on which one of you could get him out of there?" John asked before thinking about it for a minute. Why was that surprising? They bet on almost everything. It's when they weren't betting on things, or locking themselves in supply closets or wheelchair racing in the hallways that he started to get concerned. Wait… wheelchair racing?

Sam, Blaine, Santana and John could only blink as Brittany and Artie raced past them. Kurt was jogging after them. He paused in front of the group, panting. He jabbed a finger in Sam's direction. "Next time, I get Puckerman duty."

"You can always take Quinn," John offered.

Kurt threw a look at Santana. "He still hasn't learned. I'd take Brittany to the zoo with a key to all the animal pens before I ever stepped foot in that room." He straightened up and frowned at the direction that Artie and Brittany had gone in. "Artie, the point was to steer her away from there! Stealing babies is a federal crime and I'm way too delicate to do hard time!" Kurt paused thoughtfully, eyeing the closet door enviously. His eyes drifted briefly towards where they last saw Artie and Brittany. Before either John or Santana could react, he was diving into the closet. "You deal with them!"

"Please let these babies come soon," Santana muttered, plopping down in the closest chair. Once she was seated, the angle allowed her to finally see her shoes. She was wearing one red sneaker and a black loafer that might have belonged to Sam. "Oh, for crying out loud! Sam!" the only answer she received was the closet door slamming shut. It was moments like these where she really wanted to cut a bitch, starting with the three in the closet.

* * *

><p>Puck had to smile at the sight of his baby girl hugging his favorite nephew. But it was the sad look in her eyes that struck him. He cleared his throat and laughed when Miguel launched himself into his arms. He hoisted him up into a more comfortable position.<p>

"What's up, buddy?"

"Are you done hiding in the closet?"

Puck flushed. "Yeah, kiddo. I'm done hiding in the closet. Nino, I need you do to me a favor. In your Aunt Rachel's room, I left a bag. It has shoes for your mommy. Can you bring mommy that bag?"

Miguel nodded and took off towards Rachel's hospital room. One of the perks of being family to two doctors? VIP treatment. Rachel had her own room. This was probably a good thing as most of the words leaving her mouth were not appropriate to be around company. Still she somehow managed to reel it in when she was around Miguel. It was one of those things he just didn't question.

"Why do you have Aunt San's shoes?"

"She's wearing one of your uncle's shoes," Puck pointed out. "The woman has lost what was left of her ever loving mind. Yesterday, she tried to leave the house wearing a flip flop and a house slipper. When Sam pointed it out, she spent two hours screaming at him in Spanish before crying for another three hours. The worst part was when Miguel refused to translate because he didn't want to hurt his daddy's feelings."

Beth giggled and swung her legs down to make room for her father. "So, you done having a moment in the closet?"

"You done having a moment in the window?" he countered. "Ok, I know that talking about your feelings is not a Puckerman family trait. So I'm going to need you to act like your mother and tell me what's going on in that head of yours."

"Dad, I'm fine. I'm just tired."

"Now why don't I believe that? Oh yeah, because I used to run those same lines on your uncle. And he never believed me either."

She smiled slightly. "It's just that…. You've been acting weird since we got here. I heard you tell Uncle Sam that you couldn't do this. Is it because I'm screwed up?"

"Beth, baby, no," Puck said, firmly. "There are a lot of things that are screwed up in my life. But you are not one of them. You're one of the things I actually got right. But that was because I didn't raise you. I'm scared I'm going to screw up with the girls."

Beth's jaw dropped. "You? Screw up? You're going to be awesome! You're already the best dad ever."

"Better than John?"

She paused. "Totally different categories. He's a step dad. You're a dad. Anyway! Dad, you're the shit. I'm really happy that I'm your daughter. I just don't want you to forget me when the sister-nieces are born."

"I will never forget you," Puck swore. "Ever. I have dreamed about you since I was fifteen years old and I watched you disappear with Shelby. You're my daughter. Yes, the… sister-nieces are also my daughters but that doesn't mean they take your place. No one could ever take your place. Ok?"

Beth gave him a teary smile and rested her head on his shoulder. "Thank you, daddy."

"No problem, princess," he pressed a kiss against her forehead. He basked in the brief respite from the insanity that was plaguing him since Rachel's water broke. He could totally do this. The proof of his success as a father was sitting right beside him. He definitely wasn't a screw up as far as being a parent was concerned. So far he was doing alright with this family thing.

Just then a tearful woman ran by them. Puck raised an eyebrow as he recognized Rachel's doctor. He rolled his eyes. Beth caught the look and grinned.

"Mom is at it again?"

"I don't know who's worse. Rachel or Quinn."

"That's easy. Hands down it's Mom."

* * *

><p>Rachel Puckerman was not having a good day. Whoever said that the day your child was born was the happiest day of your life was a goddamn liar! She was miserable. She had contractions but apparently they weren't coming quick enough. Her husband apparently locked himself in a closet. Her sisterstepdaughter was having some sort of depressive episode. Miguel had to retrieve Santana's shoes because her pregnancy brain refused to grasp the concept of wearing two of the same shoes. And Quinn just made the doctor run out in tears. Again.

"Quinn?"

"Yes, Rachel? Is everything ok? Are you comfortable? Do you need more pillows? Do you need better pillows? Do you want more Jell-O?"

"No," Rachel replied, firmly. "I want you to calm your crazy ass down! I'm the one in labor here. Not you. Also if you don't get my doctor back in here so I can get some goddamn drugs, I might actually have to snap your blond twiggy neck!"

"Whoa, babe," Puck started as he walked through the door. Beth trailed after him wearing a smirk. "Rach, I told you. You can't do the death threats until after the actual pushing starts."

"Oh, but its ok for Quinn?"

Puck paused for a moment looking between his wife and friend. "You threatened to kill the doctors?"

"No, just the nurses," Quinn replied, as if this was perfectly acceptable. "And it wasn't a threat. I just wanted to make sure that they were doing their jobs properly. Delivery is serious business. I don't want one of them screwing something up with my future nieces because they got a text message from their boyfriend!"

"Quinn, she got a text from her mother saying that her father made it out of surgery," Rachel corrected, dryly. "And she wasn't even examining me. She happened to pass by the room when she got that message."

"Still unprofessional," Quinn grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest. Rachel rolled her eyes but was practically jumping for joy a moment later when Quinn's attention shifted to the too quiet Beth standing beside her father. "Beth, honey, what's wrong?"

Puck leaned forward and whispered something in her ear. Quinn's face melted into one of sympathy and understanding. She immediately leapt to her feet and was ushering her daughter out the room, no doubt to buy her some new ridiculous stuffed animal from the hospital's gift shop. Rachel groaned at the thought, but if it made Beth happy then she knew that they would all buy her as many damn stuffed animals as she wanted.

"How is she?" Rachel asked as Puck took a seat on the bed beside her.

"Beth? She's ok. Poor kid seems to think that her sisters are going to take her place. I set her straight but I think she needs some one on one time with Quinn. And I think that you need some time away from Quinn and her crazy."

"You know I love you so much, right?"

Puck laughed and pressed a kiss on her forehead. "I know. I love you too, babe." Puck leaned forward and kissed her stomach as well. "And Daddy loves you two as well."

Rachel watched him with a soft smile. She knew he was having doubts about his ability to be a father. But she had no idea why. He was an amazing father to Beth. His daughter loved and adored him more than anything in this world. She knew that their daughters would feel the same way. If anyone should be worried about being a bad parent, it should be her. She was selfish, she was petty and she still felt guilty for what happened the first time she was pregnant.

"Rach," Puck whispered, dragging her out of her thoughts. His thumb gently brushed away tears she didn't know she was shedding. "You're going to be a great mom. And in a few hours, we're going to be holding our daughters. And you'll get indoctrinate them into the life of tofu and soy crap."

Rachel laughed tearfully and rested her head on his shoulders. Their hands laced together over her stomach. He was right. In a few hours they were going to hold their family.

* * *

><p>Artie let out a quiet sigh of relief as he finally cornered his girlfriend in front of the viewing room. There were a few men standing around clearly gazing at their new son or daughter. He found Brittany standing at the end watching one baby in particular. He moved beside her and touched her hand gently.<p>

"Everything ok, Britt?"

"Her mother died a few hours ago," Brittany replied, quietly. Her eyes were locked on the little girl. She was tan with a full head of hair. A tiny pink bow was tied up in the fuzzy black locks. Artie smiled softly as green eyes flickered open and she was staring in their direction. "I heard one of the nurses say that she has no one now."

"That's sad," Artie agreed. He looked up at Brittany. While he was aware that Brittany was not as stupid as people thought she was he didn't really have much experience with the quiet, serious Brittany. Most of the time she was liberating animals, bouncing around and laughing. But at the moment she was completely serious and he was very worried. "Brittany, talk to me. What are you thinking about?"

Brittany turned finally to face him. "I'm thinking that I've seen how happy Santana, Quinn and Tina are with Miguel, Beth and Max and Leo. I want that, Artie. I want that with you."

Artie found himself smiling brightly. "Britt, you telling me that you want to have a baby?"

"I did," she turned her head slightly towards the baby who prompted her mode. "But then I look at that little girl and I know that she doesn't have anywhere else to go. We could be her parents, Artie. We could be parents to a child that doesn't have anyone else."

Artie inched closer to the glass. If he was truly honest, he was thinking about the whole parenthood issue a lot lately. It wasn't hard given that most of his friends were either parents or in the process. Blaine and Kurt were in the process of adopting a baby girl from Guatemala (mostly because Bragelina didn't get there first). Sam, Puck and Mike were all dads already and Sam and Puck were about to add to their family. So of course Artie thought a lot about being a dad. But he didn't know that Brittany was serious about it. He knew when Brittany got her heart set on something, she got what she wanted. So it wouldn't make any sense to get in her way.

"If we're going to do this parenting thing," he started. "There is something I should ask you first. I've been meaning to for awhile but the timing never seemed right."

Brittany raised an eyebrow. Artie smirked and pulled a ring out of his shirt pocket. "Oh, Artie," she smiled softly. Her eyes glittered from the unshed tears and he didn't think she could be more beautiful.

"Brittany S. Pierce, will you marry me?"

Her smile grew wider as she sat down on his lap, slipping the ring on her finger in the process. "I can't believe we got engaged in the maternity ward."

Artie laughed. "Well, it was either that or the zoo. And they still have the restraining order in place."

Brittany cocked her head to the side. "I hope by the time we can bring Jasmine home, that thing will be gone. I want her to go to the zoo with us."

"Who's Jasmine?"

Brittany rolled her eyes and pointed to the baby girl behind the glass. "Our daughter, of course."

Artie shook his head fondly. He loved Brittany's single minded focus. More accurately, he loved Brittany. So if she wanted this baby, he was going to find a (totally completely legal) way of making it happen. Because whether it was monkeys, penguins or polar bears, Artie just wanted Brittany to be happy. Also he really hoped having a baby would give Brittany something other than animal liberation to focus on because really there was only so many times you could apologize for trying to break into the penguin house at the Central Park Zoo.

"We'll work on it," he promised. He kissed her lips briefly before pulling away. Brittany gave him a confused look. "I feel like she's watching us."

Brittany lifted her head to look at the baby, who was in fact staring back at them. "Just wheel over there." Artie did as requested. "Now where were we?" he grinned and pulled her into another kiss.

"Ugh, really guys? The maternity ward?" Blaine's disgusted voice broke them apart. Artie glared at the former Warbler, who remained completely unaffected. He was spending way too much damn time with Puck. "Anyway, now that you're done scarring the babies for life, would like to join the rest of us in the family lounge?"

"Is it time?"

"Yes, it's time. The Ladies Puckleberry are about to be born."

* * *

><p>"Ok, Rachel, give me one more push."<p>

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Why do they say one more push when there is clearly more pushing to be done?" Santana mused from her place in the corner. She claimed that she wanted to be there for the birth of her nieces but that she drew the line at watching them actually enter the world. Rachel was comfortable with that too. She really didn't want Santana looking up there. "Oh, god, I think I just saw the head."

"San, you're supposed to be looking away," Sam chided from where he stood with the video camera. As soon as Rachel figured out which one of those idiots thought that video taping this would be a smart idea, she was kicking some ass. And since Puck really hadn't done anything to stop it, she squeezed his hand tighter, relishing in the crunch of bones.

"No more gym for you," Puck grunted. He let out a low moan of pain as well when Rachel was forced to push again.

"Ok, I've got a head and shoulders," their entirely too chipper doctor announced. "I need one more big push and then she's out."

"With one more to go," Rachel muttered. She looked up at Puck. "I just need you to know that I hate you. And if you ever come near me with that thing again, I'm cutting it off!"

Puck's eyes widened and he looked over to Sam. "Don't worry, dude. San threatened to cut mine off the entire time with Miguel. Clearly that didn't happen."

Santana rested one hand on her stomach and the other one brandished a certain finger at her husband. "Keep talking shit, Trouty Mouth, and this time I'll follow through!"

"Santana!" Rachel admonished. "I told you no cursing! I want the girls to be born in a positive environment."

"Oh, was that before or after you called Puck a no good son of a bitch?"

"His mother is a bitch," Rachel retorted, with as much dignity as one could when they were squeezing something the size of a watermelon out something the size of a lemon. And she was officially never eating fruits again.

"Right, Rach," Puck brushed her hair back. "You can do this. Push just one more time and we're officially parents."

Rachel squeezed his hand but not as tightly as before and nodded. She pushed with all the strength she could muster before collapsing in an exhausted heap. A minute later she was rewarded with the most beautiful sound in the world. Her daughter was crying. Her daughter. She did it. And then she was reminded that there was another still in there. Well, shit!

Five minutes and a whole lot of cursing (Rachel), crying (Puck), throwing up (Santana) later, Rachel heard the wailing from her second daughter. And already that one had a set of lungs on her. Rachel smiled weakly as Santana crept closer to the doctor. The doctor who had yet to say anything and was instead staring in surprise at the baby. Puck's brow furrowed and he walked over to see what was shocking the doctor so much.

"What the hell is that?"

"Well, it's definitely not an umbilical cord," Santana not helpfully confirmed.

* * *

><p>Quinn paced back and forth in the waiting area. She didn't know what was taking so long. If she were in there, the babies would've been born by now. But no, just because she made a few staff members cry, she was banned from the room until after they were born. She ignored the voice in her head that felt the need to point out that it was only after she finally left the room that the girls decided to make their entrance to the world.<p>

"Do you think I'm annoying?" Quinn stopped pacing to ask her husband. John blinked at the seemingly random question.

"What?"

"It's a simple question, John. Do you think I'm annoying?"

"It's never a simple question with them," Kurt chimed in from where he was seated reading a design magazine. "You always think its one thing but it's totally another thing and then they end up ripping your head off."

"Like the time San asked Sammy if he thought she worked too much," Blaine supplied, helpfully. "That ended up with Sam having to move in with us for three days because Santana felt that Sam was calling her a bad wife and mother."

John blinked and Quinn scowled. "It's not a damn trick question! And seeing as how you two want to be involved, you can answer too. Do you think I'm annoying?"

Now it was Kurt and Blaine's turn to look confused (and afraid). But while John was still somewhat new to the overarching (read insane) complexities of this family, he did know his wife. He reached forward and tugged her into his arms.

"Quinn, you are a lot of things: amazing, fun, protective and at times completely overbearingly insane, but you are not annoying."

"Then why did the girls wait until I left to be born?"

John smiled wider. "Sweetheart, they're babies. I doubt they planned that on purpose. And I have no doubt in my mind that they will love you as much as we all do."

Quinn pouted but nodded her head. She rested her head against his chest. John placed his chin on the top of her head. "I love you, Dr. John."

"And I love you, Dr. Quinn."

"You two are sickening," Kurt commented. "Blaine, promise we'll never be that way."

"Of course, snookums," Blaine smirked.

John shook his head fondly. Though he started off only trying to get along with them for Quinn's sake, John found himself drawn more to the oddball gleeks. And they were definitely oddballs. But he was glad that they let him in their family. He was drawn out of his thoughts as the doors to the waiting room opened and Sam stepped out. He wasn't fully through the door before he was surrounded by the anxious sibling, cousin, aunts and uncles.

"Well, are they totally gorgeous?"

"Do they have daddy's eyes too?"

"Did Rachel break Puck's hand?"

"Was one of them a boy?"

All questions halted as the group turned collectively to look at Brittany. "Uh, Britt, we already knew that they were girls. Remember?" Quinn said, gently.

Sam was staring at Brittany in a mixture of confusion and awe. "How do you do that?"

Brittany grinned. "It's a gift. So tell us."

"Congratulations, Beth. Until we have time to go buy some new clothes, you have a cross dressing little brother, who is also your nephew."

Beth's mouth dropped open as she wanted to say something but the words failed her. Luckily, she had a mother for those moments. "What the hell? One of them was a boy?"

Sam shrugged. "Rachel just gave birth to the very healthy and adorable Caroline Maria and Jacob Samuel Puckerman."

John took a moment to process this new information and then he was over it. Honestly, in any other family this would be weird. But this was his family. And so it actually made perfect sense that up until this very week, they thought there were two girls and now there was a boy and a girl. He glanced at his wife and knew exactly when she reached that moment.

"So do you want to go buy clothes before or after you see them?" he asked her, knowing where her train of thought was headed.

Quinn gave him a soft look. "I love that you know me so well. But I want to go after. I need to see my niece and nephew."

"Is anyone else terrified about the idea of another male Puckerman? I mean the girl one we have is scary enough. But think of another male Puckerman," Kurt said, teasingly. Beth stuck her tongue out.

"Think about the fact that they're both also half Rachel."

"The world is doomed."

* * *

><p>Hours later, the gleeks were finally gone. Blaine was tasked with updating Mike and Tina. Artie told him that he had something he wanted to share with them but it could wait until the morning. Puck already knew what it was based off the ring on Brittany's finger but he figured he'd let them have their moment. Sam was set to pick up Hiram and Leroy from Newark Airport. Puck knew that first thing in the morning they, along with Shelby, would be invading the room and he smiled actually looking forward to it. Quinn was off most likely to buy the entire boys department in Babies 'R Us along with Beth, so that was one less thing that Puck had to worry about tonight. Because he had his hands full with his too quiet wife.<p>

"What's wrong, babe?"

Rachel glanced in his direction as he sat on the edge of the bed. It was just the two of them. The twins were in the nursery and while visiting hours were long past over, Puck was too worried about Rachel to leave her alone.

"It's nothing," she whispered, turning away from him again. Puck shook his head and gently held onto her shoulder.

"It's not nothing, Rach. You're quiet. You're only quiet when you're pissed or depressed." He paused. "Rachel, you're not feeling depressed are you?"

He read all the books when Quinn was pregnant. He read them again when Rachel got pregnant. He even read some new ones. He read the ones detailing postpartum depression and the other complications for mother and child. He didn't sleep for a week after that. And it looked like his worst nightmare was about to be true.

"Noah," Rachel's voice brought him back from his escalating panic. He glanced down to see her smiling at him. "I'm neither depressed nor angry… I'm just… it's stupid."

"Nothing is stupid when it's you."

"That's sweet but I just feel like… I spent nine months talking to them. I was prepared for Caroline and Leah. But we got Caroline and Jacob. I'm just…."

"Disappointed?" Puck supplied with a slight smile. Rachel flushed. "Babe, it's ok to be disappointed. That doesn't make you a bad mother."

"It doesn't?"

He laughed, pulling her into his arms. "No, Rachel, it does not. We both thought we were getting two beautiful little girls. And now we have one beautiful little girl and a future badass little boy. It's ok to be disappointed about not having our two girls. That doesn't mean that we won't love Jacob as much as Leah."

Rachel nodded against his chest. "When did you get so good at this? I used to be the one that calmed you down."

He kissed her forehead and smiled. "Well, I had to adapt. When you got pregnant with the twins, you kinda lost it."

"I did not!"

"Rachel, you got us kicked out of Applebee's because you said your steak wasn't rare enough. When the waitress told you that steak was as rare as it got without it actually still being alive, you kindly suggested that she was protecting the cow because she was so closely related to it."

She giggled. "Oh, I see your point." she snuggled further into his embrace. "Noah, we're going to be good parents. You know that, right?"

"I know we are," he confirmed with a nod. "And you know, babe. They say if at first you don't succeed, try, try and try again. I'm more than willing to do this again. We make some damn adorable kids."

Rachel smiled. "Give me a few months to forget this whole birth process and then we'll talk about it."

"So that's not a no, right?"

"Definitely not a no."

Puck smiled, carding his fingers through Rachel's hair absently. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the headboard of the bed. Sometimes he was amazed at how his life turned out. He still struggled to realize that it wasn't just a wonderful dream. He was really married to the girl he loved his whole damn life. He really did have the most amazing group of friends and support in Sam, Santana and all the other NY gleeks. And now in addition to his beloved Beth, he also had a beautiful son and daughter. If this was a dream, he damn sure didn't want to wake up.

* * *

><p>*The end once again. I hope you enjoyed this little episode in the life of the Operation crew. I might jump back in to explore more with the kids. But we'll see. I have a few other projects I'm working on at the moment.<p> 


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